


It Doesn't Make Sense

by TheWorkoftheHeart



Series: Rockstar AU [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Amber Lead Syndrome, Donquixote Family - Freeform, Gen, Rockstar AU, Sick Character, Touch-Averse Trafalgar D. Water Law
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:47:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26273596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWorkoftheHeart/pseuds/TheWorkoftheHeart
Summary: The last weeks for Law had been difficult; more so than usual. One year hung sturdy on his ever-decreasing time clock but his sickness felt the worst it had his whole life.
Relationships: Donquixote "Corazon" Rosinante & Trafalgar D. Water Law
Series: Rockstar AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1897279
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	It Doesn't Make Sense

The last weeks for Law had been difficult; more so than usual. One year hung sturdy on his ever-decreasing time clock but his sickness felt the worst it had his whole life. He slept restlessly, threw up constantly, would burn with fever and shiver with chills, all the while reading medical books in Doflamingo’s study, listening to his low voice across the room as he’d twirl his finger mindlessly around the cord of his phone.

Law’s throat was hoarse. It felt difficult to even swallow. Attempts to moisten his throat with saliva did little but agitate the burn that accompanied it. He pushed back from the desk a bit before curling in on himself and coughing; his vision went white, a searing pain bolting through his abdomen as he tried to steady himself on the chair and not slam his face into the table that he’d spaced himself away from.

The coughing was what got Doflamingo’s attention; despite not seeing them, Law could feel him staring from the corners of his eyes. Somehow, it only made the burning pain worse.

“I’ll have to call you back,” Doflamingo excused, not awaiting a response before hanging up the phone and standing from his seat, folding his coat over his arm. As Doflamingo made his way over, a small hand met Law’s back. He immediately flinched at the touch as he coughed even harder, nearly falling from his seat had Doflamingo’s calloused hands not caught him in time.

“Whoa, whoa... easy, Trafalgar, easy.”

The aching pain was fading, as was the hazy black in his vision. He opened his eyes and found Doflamingo crouched in front of him with a too-concerned Baby 5 at his hip. “Deep breaths, Law,” Doflamingo ordered, and it was all Law could do to comply.

“Are you gonna throw up again?” Baby 5 asked, sounding more worried than teasing. A simple glare in her direction shut her right up anyways, and she ducked into Doflamingo’s coat to protect herself from his angry gaze.

Law opened his mouth, finding his words being choked by air- it was almost like his lungs had forgotten how to breathe for a second- before the words came out. “My throat’s been killing me. I think the Amber Lead’s getting worse.”

Doflamingo’s face etched into a frown, but it wasn’t one full of pity or sadness; it was one that held deep thought and contemplation, as though the answer was from any circumstance other than a fast-approaching death. “You should get some water and rest, then,” came his response. “It’s not good to be working when you’re ill. I admire your efforts to join this band greatly, Law, and they will not go unnoticed, but even the Executives know better than to work at the detriment of their own health.”

Law nodded. Water sounded good, and rest even better; if he could actually sleep despite his fever, it’d be nothing short of a miracle. Doflamingo outstretched a hand and helped Law off the chair, steadying him before sending him on his way. Baby 5 was all-too enthusiastic to help him to his room, chatting about how she was going to “play nurse” and “help him get better”.

“Everyone in the Family knows how you are, Law,” she stated blatantly, “it’d be foolish to leave you without supervision until you fall asleep.”

“I don’t need you to watch me,” he bit back, before coughing into his elbow. She led him to his room at the end of the hall and allowed him to make himself comfortable. When she attempted to pull the blankets up over his chest, he simply smacked her hand away.

“Hey!”

“Don’t fucking touch me,” he bit back, “you know I don’t like being touched.”

She mumbled something under her breath, a bit frustrated-- something about Law being “no fun”. He didn’t care to listen to her that much, so it’s not like he was going to try and figure it out.

“Well, anyways, I’m gonna go get a glass of water for you and then I’ll be right back. So don’t move, okay?”

Baby 5 put her hands on her hips, trying to imitate the scolding looks Giolla would give the other children when they would fall ill. Being the only one in the home with a “motherly aura”, Giolla took it upon herself to be the children’s caretaker, especially that she was now an actual mother. The parallels between her and Baby 5 were not lost on him.

“Fine,” Law muttered, pulling the blankets up over his own face so he could stop looking at her. He heard Baby 5 leave, and he quickly uncovered his face, already sweating from how hot it was. This fever needed to break soon, Law was certain, or else he’d end up melting into the floor.

It took Baby 5 so long to return that Law hadn’t noticed her come in until he almost choked on a mouthful of water. He sat upright and coughed incessantly, feeling it drip down his chin; Baby 5 gasped like she’d been burned and backed away from his bedside.

“Are you trying to drown me?!”

“I was trying to give you water! I asked if you wanted me to give it to you and you said ‘sure’!”

“I don’t remember doing that!”

“Well you _did_ , idiot! Don’t get mad at _me_!”

Law snatched the glass out of her hands, looking into the water at his own reflection for a moment. _The fever must’ve made me delirious._

He drank. He drank until the whole glass was empty, before sitting it on his nightstand.

Baby 5 beamed proudly, as if she’d done something incredible in giving Law the water. “Good! Now get some rest, okay? Young Master will probably come wake you when it’s dinnertime.”

Law just grunted in response, laying down on the side of the bed he hadn’t inadvertently soaked in his near-drowning, looking away from her. He looked at the window instead, watching her reflection as she turned off the light and quietly shut the door, hearing it latch behind her.

Finally. Peace and quiet.

Law sat upright and threw off his shirt, tucking the thick blankets to the end of the bed and nestling under the thin sheets instead. He made sure a sliver of fabric from the blankets was close to his grip, though, just in case he woke up with chills. Once he’d situated himself how he liked it, he laid back down in an attempt to fall asleep.

At some point in his rest, he could hear someone in his room; he was too exhausted to pay it much mind, but he felt a cold rag get laid on his forehead and heard the sound of water and ice clinking into a glass on his nightstand. He glanced over to the source of the noise and found himself only seeing a purple-pink top, pale skin, and bright yellow hair, and he came to the assumption it must’ve been Giolla.

Odd, he remembered thinking. He didn’t know Giolla would come in and do this when the others fell sick. Or was it because he was a special case?

Law recalled shivering, and the blanket was pulled over him, a hand lingering on his face comfortingly; he swatted at it, making contact with the skin as it pulled back in surprise. The wet cloth was carefully removed from his forehead and the figure- Giolla?- left without another word.

He fell back into the haze of sleep easily, and didn’t stir again until Doflamingo was calling his name from the doorway.

Law sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hand. His forehead felt dry when his fingers grazed it; maybe he’d imagined Giolla in a feverish haze. Maybe she didn’t come in after all.

“Dinner’s ready. Would you like Trebol to bring it to you, or would you like to come eat with us in the dining room?”

The rest and water had helped. Law nodded. “I’ll join you. I’ll be a few minutes.”

Doflamingo gave a faint smile from the doorway. “I’ll have Diamante save you a plate.” The door clicked closed behind him as he left, leaving Law to pull himself from the remnants of sleep that tugged at the back of his mind, begging him for more.

He slipped out of bed and got dressed in fresh clothes; he’d ended up sweating like crazy, as he’d anticipated, and he just felt _gross_ in what he was wearing. A t-shirt and shorts seemed to suffice, and he could just put on a pair of sandals before he left his room. Law walked to his nightstand to retrieve his empty glass, and...

It was full. At the top, small remnants of ice cubes danced across the top, condensation dripping down the sides.

So Giolla _had_ come in. He supposed he had to thank her when he made it to the table.

He took his glass with him to the dining room; no one commented on his mismatched clothes (considering the family lacked in fashion themselves). They were all in the middle of passing plates around, trying to make sure everyone had a little bit of everything, so Law was able to slip into their passage easily, eventually receiving a full plate in front of him. Once everyone’s food was in order, he sat his slice of bread back on the serving tray, as did Doflamingo’s younger brother in perfect sync.

“Glad to see you’re feeling better, Law,” Diamante commented. “You were looking quite sickly when Baby 5 was taking you back to your room. I take it that resting helped?”

“Apparently,” Law answered, not one to talk over dinner. He scanned the table until he found Giolla, who was currently ignoring her plate so she could help get Dellinger’s bottle to where he could drink from it easier in his chair. Law swallowed the bite of food he’d taken, keeping his gaze on her. “Er... thank you for coming and checking on me, Giolla.”

Giolla looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. “I didn’t come into your room,” she replied simply.

“Yes, you did. You filled up my glass of water and gave me a wet rag.”

She chuckled. “Well, that would’ve been kind of me, wouldn’t it? No, I was taking care of Dellinger all afternoon- the little fucker’s getting teeth now, and we’re trying to find something for him to teethe on that’s not Buffalo’s fingers.”

Beside her, Buffalo held up his hand, wiggling his bandaged fingers. The gauze was a little bloody in spots. How sharp were that kid’s teeth?

“It had to have been you,” Law continued. “I saw you.”

“They must’ve been a good impersonator of me, because I was nowhere near your room.”

He looked around the table for anyone else who could’ve been the culprit; scanning for purple-pink shirts, bright yellow hair, maybe a hat, a coat. Anything that could tell him who came in.

After concluding it was no one at the table, Law brushed away how suddenly-violating the situation was (if it wasn’t a member of the family, then who the fuck came into his room?) and continued eating. He listened closely as they talked about music and plans; Trebol speaking of a new drumming technique he’d been trying, Pica asking Corazon for spare strings. It was casual, and by the end of the meal, Law had forgotten about the encounter entirely.

He managed to spend a few more hours studying over books and writing in his journal before exhaustion crept back up on him. It was Trebol to help him to his room this time, only because Law had nearly fainted after standing too suddenly from his chair. Why this week was one of the worst for his Amber Lead, Law wasn’t sure, but he hated being cared over all the time. It drove him crazy. Luckily, Trebol wasn’t as invasive as Baby 5 was, leaving him to his space and only returning with a glass of water, per Doflamingo’s instruction.

“Give him water every time he goes to sleep; he has a brilliant mind, and a brilliant voice on top of it. We can’t let his throat get torn apart, now can we?”

In hindsight, the words make Law’s skin crawl; then, though, it was just a simple instruction.

Sleep had come easy without all the extra fussing. Insomnia, though, came easier, and kept him waking every two minutes, frustratedly trying to catch up to sleep while his fatigue-ridden body simply couldn’t seem to give out.

At some point in the night, Law had finished his glass of water. He only noticed it when he desperately reached over for more and found nothing, which didn’t help his parched lips feel any better, nor did it soothe the burning of his throat. He slid out of bed and silently made his way to the kitchen, not wanting to wake anyone.

Seeing a six-foot figure by the sink definitely startled him, though.

“Doflamingo?”

The figure turned around, and the moonlight exposed his face-- the showy blue makeup under his eye and the precarious lipstick could be none other than Corazon. Law rolled his eyes and moved closer to refill his glass in the sink, when he noticed exactly what Corazon was doing.

He had a pitcher of ice water by his side, and he was wringing out a wet cloth over the drain. He didn’t spare Law a glance, but had he done so, he would’ve seen the absolutely shocked expression that took over him.

“Wait, you came into my room earlier?!”

Corazon held a finger to his lips quickly, before sitting the rag down on a plate he had sat aside. He pulled a notepad off of the fridge beside him and used the attached pen to write before showing Law the page.

_Yes._

Law bit down the perplexed shout he wanted to make, instead speaking in a half-angry whisper. “Why?! You hate children! It doesn’t make sense, Corazon!”

He flipped the page, writing again. It took him a little longer this time, but he showed it to Law when he was done.

_Don’t tell the Family._

“Don’t tell the Family..?”

Law mulled the words over in his brain for a moment, but he understood it quickly enough.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” he argued. “Why? Why do you give a shit all of a sudden?”

Corazon just nodded, taking the pitcher and refilling Law’s glass. He felt it grow cold with every drop, and he drank from it the moment Corazon was done pouring. Once he finished, Corazon refilled it again before setting the pitcher into the sink and handing Law the cold rag.

He grabbed the notepad and wrote one more note. _Get some sleep. My brother will kill you if you don’t._

Law just chuckled dryly. He still didn’t understand it all, but he appreciated the gesture, he supposed. He didn’t even give Corazon a goodbye as he left, but he did offer a “thanks”.

What he didn’t see was the soft smile on Corazon’s face and the relieved droop of his shoulders once he left. Slowly but surely, Law would warm up to him.

But in the meantime, all Law knew was that he would never understand Donquixote Rosinante.

**Author's Note:**

> While this fic is set in my Rockstar AU, it's not super blatant, but I still tagged it as such because this is an idea for that AU that I've held onto for a WHILE now. I wanted to use this fic to explore the Donquixote Family in a light I don't usually see them in; I wanted to use this fic to explore the care, albeit only a little, that Law was under when he lived with them. This ISN'T saying they're good, but y'know, they had to have treated Law _well_ to have gotten his trust so easily.
> 
> Also, yes, more touch-averse Law. It's my favorite headcanon don't judge me.
> 
> If you enjoy this fic, PLEASE follow me on my twitter @hanahana_no__mi! You can RT this story and help boost it.
> 
> Comments are super appreciated! Thank you so much for reading!


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